


The Secret Ingredient

by fiktiongirl



Category: Muse (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fear, Fluff, Friendship, Fun, Happy, Happy Ending, Love, Romantic Fluff, Sad and Happy, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-29 13:50:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20083264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiktiongirl/pseuds/fiktiongirl
Summary: We are in the Bellamy/Evans house on a normal weekday evening, somewhere in break of the band. Maybe set in autumn or winter. Definetly somewhat after Floyd became a new familiy member. It's your choice anyway. Dom and his German girlfriend Josefa are visiting the three.  Everything seems to be fine, until suddenly the topic falls on music and a certain... How does she react to the news that her boyfriend and his best friend are in the worl's best band? (Dom x OwnCharacter)





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everybody,  
Welcome to my first Muse short-story. Well, actually it's a one-shot in three chapters, but let's start with the first one.  
I'm still new to the Muse-Fandom although I've been following the music for a long time. So please don't be so strict with me. I am always open for tips and tricks.  
English isn't my mother tongue (I'm from Germany) so I had a little help from deepl.com.  
XO, fiktiongirl.

"How old are you anyway, Josefa?"  
"Mattey, you don't ask a woman that!" Elle lovingly pats her fiancé's hand and smiles apologetically. I shake my head.  
"Don't worry. I'm 25" I counted on everything, spitting water across the table to total ecstasy. But he only looks at Dom, who has his jaw falling down.  
"And I thought we were far apart, but you win at the age of 16," laughs Matt now. I look at Dominic in horror.  
"Wait, you're 41?"  
"And you 25, Josy?"  
"I thought you were 33!"  
"And I thought you were 28!"  
"You've never talked about your age?!"  
"No," we both say in unison. I look at Dominic and he at me. We had never clarified how old we are. "It never played a big role,' I continue.  
"Does it do that now?" Does it? Or does it not. Of course it's different now, isn't it? I mean, that's 16 years. 16! He could be my father if he had started early. No, I do not want to imagine that. No.  
"Elle, dear, let's look after Bing." The two of them leave the room and give us a few minutes to set the information.  
"Josey...Josefa," he grabs my hands, has turned around to me on the chair and looks at me with his blue eyes. He stutters, looks for words and finally gives up. We look at each other. I hope he can see in my eyes what is going through my head. I look at him, think about our moments together and suddenly I am sure.  
"No, it doesn't matter to me," I whisper, stroking his cheek, 'even if it doesn't matter to you either."  
He begins to smile and presses a kiss into my palm.  
"I didn't care until now and won't care in the future."  
"Would anyone else like some wine?"  
Without waiting for the answer, Matt pours us in. "What kind of game did you play with Bing? He was totally thrilled."  
"It's a card game that I've always played in my childhood. I have no idea if this is a German game or not, but it's called 'UNO'". I try to pronounce it again in English, but it sounds very strange. I feel Dom's hand on my thigh stroking it briefly. Whenever I'm unsure about words or explanations, he encourages me with little gestures like this. "Uno? It sounds like Muse's first album, " Elle laughs and drinks wine. Matt and Dom exchange a look that I can't interpret. "Muse?" I think hard. Something in my head rings.  
"Yes, don't you know them?" She grins in a really amused way.  
"No, Muse... Muse, but that tells me something. Oh, those were the ones with the Sesame Streets - memory move,' it remembers me again and I grins at the memory of it.  
"What?" the two gentlemen look as if they had seen a ghost, which makes me laugh. Elle joins in.  
"They had, um, no idea how many years ago, a massive hit in Germany and in the video, which I have seen only a few times, the guy makes such a strange movement. It looked like a couple of dolls in Sesame Street. First the head to the left jerky and then to the right. At the Sesame Street the dolls had danced so similarly. When I told that to a friend, I had ruined both the song and the video."  
" Which song exactly do you mean?" Matt asks carefully.  
"Don't ask me what that was, um... There were violins and a pretty good beat. Great description, isn't it?" I grin embarrassed. "Are you all fans or why are you looking like that?" All three stare at me with pale faces. "I remember the melody of the violin. It was plucked, not played with the bow." I try to repeat the few pieces that come to mind in my head, then I sum them up loudly, but don't expect a reaction. I don't get any, only big eyes.  
"You mean 'Undisclosed Desires'."  
My friend speaks the sentence soberly and drinks a very large sip of wine.  
"Exactly! You are the best. Then I can show you the video, where he dances so. This might bring back some memories I can tell you, there I was maybe 13 or 14 or so." I pull out my cell phone and unlock it. Dom grabs it. But I am faster. "What's wrong?"  
"Do you really want to?" His voice sounds panicky.  
"Why not?"  
"You... You don't have to consume any data volume now, love,' Matt smiles, but it looks very forced. What's that all about? Now I want to know more than ever.  
"Dominic, what's going on?"  
"We can watch it later, I think." Dom slides restlessly back and forth on his chair.  
"But why? I have that in my head now and only a few parts of it. Otherwise it won't go away. It'll stuck in my head all night."  
"Leave them alone, Dom. It's better that way,' says Elle mildly. There's so much more to this sentence than a single meaning.  
I type the words "Muse" and "Undisclosed Desires" in my Youtube App under the eyes of my boyfriend.  
"Ha! See? That's exactly it. " I click on the video and... Must wait until I can skip the commercial. Then the video starts. I nod my head to the rhythm and the plucked violins. The singer in the red trousers snaps to himself. Then the plug-in in his shoes.  
"Riiiight," I squeak, "those shoes were cool." I don't notice Dom and Matt looking at each other and getting more and more nervous. The phone is on the table so everyone can see it.  
"How young they were all," smiles Elle.  
You see a black drum kit and the drummer's hands. Then the singer again and he starts singing.  
"I know you suffered but I don't want you to hide."  
"Matt, look! He looks like you. A double!" I look at Matt. The resemblance is too amazing. But don't you say that every person has five doppelgangers?  
"Don't you agree, Dom?" I point to the video, which continues to run and expect a nod from him. He just grins crookedly.  
I look at the video again. A woman is dancing, the hands of the bass player can be seen.  
"Everything in black," I mumble. Then the chorus starts and I get goose bumps because the song is so good and the bass with the drums is just perfect.  
"I want to reconcile the violence in your heart."  
"Look here, this guy really looks like...," my heart's popping out," This one looks like...Dom..." My heartbeat starts faster than normal. That can't be, can it? Only because he is blond and has drums. But Dom only plays now and then he says so himself. I shake my head. Must be wine. The drummer comes into focus again.  
"Your beauty is not just a mask."  
Oh. My. God. I stop the video. Of course I'm way too slow. 'EXORCISE' is emblazoned, I let it go on. Come on.... Come on... Show me that I am wrong... Show me that I -  
"You trick your lovers..."  
I'm stopping again. The drummer is back in the picture. I look at him, then at Dom next to me. Back to the cell phone and back.  
"That's you, isn't it? Did you play in the video?" I don't want to believe what I can think of what it might mean.  
"Yes, I mean...We..."  
"You are the... You are Muse." It falls out of my eyes like scales. I look at Dom. He just looks at me, doesn't say a word. I stare at my mobile phone again, then at Matt and Elle. She begins to spin. My head buzzes.  
"Excuse me a moment." I get up, almost stumble into the hallway. Actually I want to go to the bathroom, but I can only make it to the stairs, where I settle down on the penultimate step and bury my face in my hands.  
That can't be.  
That cannot be.  
I've been happy with Dom for half a year. Sure, he was on "business trips" more often, but I had just as much to do. At first I was afraid of course that I wasn't the only one, but he assured me that he was with me and he only with Matt and Chris is on the road on behalf of their 'company'. Again and again he sent pictures of him and I had no reason not to trust him. In retrospect so much makes sense. I had asked him to let us take it slowly with us, because my last separation was unattractive and has marked me emotionally.  
A dainty arm wraps around my shoulders.  
"It's everything a bit much, isn't it?" It's Elle. I just nod, then shake my head and keep crying. "Can you tell me why you're crying? Dom is devastated and quite jealous because I'm supposed to comfort you and not him." Despite everything I have to grin. His face is certainly very rigid and impenetrable, but fire rages in his blue eyes. I roughly wipe my eyes dry and look at the fiancée of Matt.  
"Wie war das für dich damals? "  
"What?"  
"Well, as you--" She interrupts me laughing. "You spoke German."  
"Oh," I turn red like a tomato and repeat my question this time in English. "How did you feel back then?"  
"I knew directly that he was a musician. But which band and that he has a son, I didn't know. That was a shock, I tell you. Suddenly Bingham stood in front of me with his four years and I didn't know who he was. Mattey had just forgotten to say it because he thought I already knew." She has to laugh and I can see her love for him. She gets serious again." Love overcomes everything, Josefa. I can understand you that you have to let it sink, but only because he is a musician, to finish the whole thing is nonsense. "  
"I didn't even think so."  
"The thought will come and I want to spare you that. Of course he's on the road a lot, but the positive side is that the guys love it when you're there. I've often been on a tour and I'm sure you'd like it too. "  
I nod. A slight headache is noticeable because it is so much.  
"Josey?" Dom kneels before me.  
"I want to leave here," I whisper.  
"May I take you home? Is that okay or should Matt drive?"  
"You."  
The ride is silent. I don't even remember how exactly we left the house and came into my apartment. We are standing in the hallway, no idea what to say to each other.  
"I need time, Dom. I... That was a lot. I don't want to hurt you and I certainly don't want to part, but... Please don't be angry with me."  
Dom covers my face tenderly with his hands and tries to smile. His hands are so nice and warm. I snuggle up to them intuitively. "Josey.... You are such a special young woman. You try to settle everything peacefully and quietly, I admire that in you. I would have taught you gently, dear. Of course I give you time. Take as much as you want, I wait. Do not forget what I feel for you, yes?" He gently kisses my forehead and walks out the door.  
For a long time I still stand in the same place and stare at the closed door.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some time later. Maybe days, maybe weeks, maybe month. I'll let you decide when this chapter takes place.

WhatsApp Chat Matt and Josefa: 

Matt:   
"Is Floyd staying with you?"

Josey:  
"No, why?"

Matt:  
"Do you have a key to the apartment?"

Josey:  
"Yes... Matt, what's wrong?"

Matt:   
"Can you bring Floyd to us?"

Josey:  
"Why? Is Floyd sick?"

"Or is something wrong with ...him?" 

Matt:  
"He... Can't get it right... And he really needs Floyd."

Josey:  
"Can't somebody else bring Floyd around?"

Matt:  
"No."

Josey:   
"Matt..."

Matt:   
"Flyod is all alone. His sister had to... Um... She left in a hurry."

Josey:   
"..."

Matt:   
"What if I say 'please' like I love you?" 

Josey:   
"Why don't you just continue somewhere else like with another song?" 

Matt:   
"We're rehearsing for the tour. Even if he succeeds with other songs, he has to work with this one, too." 

"I'm asking you as your boyfriend's best friend, not as a singer of Muse."

Josey:   
"I know... Are you sure he's that bad?" 

Matt:   
" Go see for yourself, Josey. "

Josey:   
"I don't know if I can do this." 

Matt:   
"You're writing with me right now. Then you'll be fine with the other one, too." 

Josey:   
"I don't know if this is a good idea. What if he doesn't want to see me at all?" 

A picture is sent. It shows Matt looking at me heartbreakingly. He seems to be sitting at a music mixer. Behind the chair is Chris, who is also pleadingly folding his hands and pouts as much as Matt does. Electronic gadgets can be seen everywhere. Matt's comment: "Please, please with some whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and cherries on top."  
I shouldn't do it. I shouldn't get weak. But I miss Dom. I miss him way too much. And my heart aches at the thought that he is feeling bad. I quickly type a message to Matt.

Josey:   
"I’ve got you figured out. You only want my coffee."

Matt:   
"Will you come nevertheless? Even Chris is at his wits' end soon."

Josey:   
"Is Flyod really alone with him in his apartment?"

Matt:   
"You are a sweetheart! Coffee cups are here. *face see picture above *"

I'll close the app and grab my hair. Why am I doing this? Why? I try to find an answer while making two thermos jugs of coffee. Matt loves my coffee more than anything. It's very simple filter coffee. As the coffee brews, I nervously tiger through my little flat, change the sweatpants for skinny jeans and the stained T-shirt for a clean one and pull a sweater over it, then a black leather jacket and a thick, cuddly scarf. If I were a man, I'd have to shave my beard because I've let myself down like that lately. Yes, I feel terrible. And that's a well-intentioned understatement. I don't bother to cover my grey, deep dark eye-rings with make-up. Let them see that ... What should they see? What should HE see? That I feel bad without him? That I apparently can't be survivable without him? After all, I asked for time, not him. Time... What is time after all? I do not have any clue how many hours, days or weeks have passed since that evening when he quietly dropped the door behind him into the lock. As far as my work was concerned, my good friend had written me off sick, after all she was a doctor. It was not morally correct, but she saw how I suffered when she visited me the other day. Yes, it was completely wrong, but I just couldn't do it anymore. My head was empty and full at the same time. I couldn't concentrate anymore. All thoughts went around Dom. Just like now when I fill the fresh coffee into the thermos jugs.

\-----

"Your coffee is so much better than mine. Will you ever tell me your secret ingredient?" Dom had his arms wrapped around me, not around my stomach, but grabbed my cup of coffee and tasted a big sip.   
"I should tell a thief the secret ingredient?! What do you think of me," I looked at him outraged as I tried to play.   
"A thief? I am not a thief, am I?" He pushed the lower lip forward and made big puppy eyes.   
"I am not falling for that, Dominic." Yes, I did. But he didn't have to know that.   
"But maybe on this perhaps?" Dom had turned me swinging to him, pulled even closer to himself and pressed a passionate kiss on my lips. 

\-----

I breathe a sigh at the memory. He would have loved to do other things afterwards. Things which I could not give him after such a short time yet... He had always been very considerate. Without exception. He had always said that I could take the necessary time... Was it perhaps too late? Had I taken too much time? Was it wrong to take so much time?   
I put the coffee in the jugs and in a carrier bag and set off for his apartment. I walk without paying attention to the way. My feet know the route. No wonder, as often as I have crossed this route in the last year. I stop at his door. It is so familiar to me, this dark red lacquered wood. Gently I cross the grain. My thoughts want to drift away again, but a humming in my jacket pocket frightens me to shrug together. 

Matt:  
"Are you on your way yet?" 

Josey:  
" Standing in front of his front door."

Matt:  
" Proof, please. " 

Josey:  
"Don't you trust me?" 

I'll send a picture of the door. That'll have to do. 

Matt:  
"Here's the address. Take my car, you know where the keys are."

I look around. In fact, the car in front of the garden gate is what I've seen at Matt's before. But where should the keys be?

Josey:  
"Do I know about that?" 

Matt:   
"Where his keys usually are. Hurry up. It's getting worse and worse. He doesn't even get 'Plug in Baby' right anymore."

I put the phone back in my jacket pocket and pull out my bunch of keys, open the door. The light in the hallway is on, but it's still bright outside. Did Dominic leave it on so Floyd wouldn't have to stay in the dark? Oh, no, his sister was here, maybe she left it on for Floyd, I think ironically. Did Matt notice that he uncovered his lie with the sister himself when he wrote me if Floyd was with me? Speaking of which, where is the Boston Terrier? He usually runs to the door as soon as it opens.  
"Floyd? It's me, Josefa." Yes, I'm talking to the dog. I never did before. Not even with goldfish. But this little dog has attracted me. I leave the bag with the coffee in the hallway and walk towards the living room. There is his favourite place. As a precaution I send a prayer to heaven that Dom's dog didn't break the furniture.   
He didn't. Since I hear his tapestry in the kitchen. When I arrive at the door frame the dog is already standing there, wagging his tail joyfully and racing towards me to greet me. I sink to my knees and cuddle him through.   
"Floyd, oh Flyod," I crooked, because only now I realize how much I missed the little terrier.   
I remember my first encounter with the cute dog. It was the first time that I was at home with Dom. We wanted to cook together, get to know each other better. He had brought me into the living room. 

\-----

"May I introduce Floyd to you?"   
Immediately I had kneeled down and caressed his black fur. He had visibly liked it and didn't want to leave me any more. "Hey Floyd. I see what your daddy had in mind about your name! Where's Pink?" I asked Dom, who sat down next to me on the living room carpet and also cuddled the fur. He had shaken his head silently.   
"But his favourite colour is pink. I had bought him a pink bone rather for fun and since then...", Dom had finally added.

\-----

Back in the here and now I get up. "Do you want to visit your daddy, little ghostbuster?" That's what I only call him when Dom isn't around, because he hates this comparison in opposition to Matt. He's dancing around between my legs. I interpret that as approval.   
To be on the safe side, I check if all doors and windows are closed, then I return to the hallway where the dog leash hangs. I also take some goodies with me and the pink bones. I don't know how long the dog should stay. Now I only need the right car keys. Fortunately there is only one on the shoe cupboard. I don't feel like solving riddles.   
"Come, little Ghostbuster, come!"   
The studio is outside the city, which is good for me, because I really have to get used to it with this drive on the left side. Besides, I'm pretty happy that I can use the car, otherwise I wouldn't have made it till tomorrow morning.   
I park next to Dominic's car, type a message to Matt that I've arrived and get out with Floyd. I don't have much choice how I get inside, there aren't too many doors. A heavy looking door is opened and Chris shows up. Floyd, who seems to have been here several times, runs through the door like a greased lightning bolt! The leash is dragging behind. Shit! I had forgotten to hold it! I'm just not used enough to handle dogs.   
"Josefa! Finally!" The bass player pulls me into a hug. Totally astonished about it I answer her awkwardly. "It couldn't get any faster,' I mumble.  
"It's good that you... Well Floyd is there. It's really exhausting with Dom. I don't even know him like that. But now it hopefully gets better after the break.   
Follow me."  
With big eyes and in amazement I enter the hall or is it a studio? A studio hall? I have no idea and am the more amazed as I look through a wooden door with a window and Dom lying on his back with Floyd on him. His laughter can be heard through the door. "Matt is in there, you can also hear Dom. Dude, I'm not really a person who says that, but I really missed his laughter. Matt told me what happened. That was surely a lot for you, but also for him. He looks so sad!"  
" Don't babble to her!" Matt gets up from his chair and hugs me tightly for a longer moment than necessary.   
"Look who is talking, blabbermouth!"  
"I have coffee for you," I say in a quiet voice. My voice refuses her service. Just knowing Dom in the next room makes my heart race and my hands sweat. And this environment and the whole situation, this is just a lot. My heart is beating so loud that I'm afraid everyone might hear it.  
" Awesome! Where is the black gold?" Matt looks at me questioningly. I let my head hang. "Still in the car." I turn around and hurry past the door where I had just seen Dom. He now sits cross-legged on the floor, smiles happily and crawls Floyd's ears. I freeze, although I don't want it. But my body wants to be with him, longs for his body warmth and wants to be held by Dom. I always felt safe and secure with him, as if he were my personal protection from all evil. But before the drummer can notice me, I run ahead, out again to the car. On the back seat is the bag with the Thermos bottles as I placed them in it. As I try to lock the car again, the keys slip out of my hand and hit the ground. I kneel down and remain in this position as I hear an all-too familiar voice at the heavy door.   
"I'll be right back! Just wanna go a short round with him." My body is frozen. I can't move anymore. Like a pillar of salt I squat between the cars and pinch my eyes together, hoping that Dom won't notice me, hoping that he's going in the other direction. I listen patiently as the steps move away. I only move back in when I'm sure he's out of sight. I breathe deeply in and out because I have even stopped breathing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,   
here it is, the final chapter. Thanks for reading and have fun =)
> 
> XOXO fiktiongirl

"So, and here it is again officially: Welcome to the zone where all the magic happens!" Matt and Chris are lounging on a desk chair or a comfortable looking big couch and already holding cups in their hands. Matt has his arms spread out as if he wanted to encircle the whole room. Yes, he still has the cup in one hand.   
"Thank you," I smile honestly and unpack the thermos jugs.   
"Oh God, that's good," Matt moans a little later after drinking a sip of coffee and leans his head back.   
"Amen to that. How do you do that? You're competing with my Caris," the bass player winking at me and also drinking a sip. I sat down on a second chair, sitting with the desk to my left, Matt opposite me, on the right on the couch is Chris again.   
"Thanks Chris, but I don't understand why it tastes so good to you. It's just filter coffee," I shrug my shoulders at a loss.   
"Do you have a secret ingredient?" Matt raises his eyebrow questioningly. I smile, play with my scarf. "That's what Dom always asks."  
"And did you?" Curiously he looks at me.   
"I don't tell him or you," I grin all over, although my stomach cramped just when I said his name.   
"Please, please?"   
"Remember, we can play the Rockstar card uninhibited now," Chris laughs and wiggles his eyebrows, "you're finally involved now."  
Boom. That has sat. Rock star. I shrug and breathe flat.   
"Shit, that was wrong, wasn't it?" worried Chris moves to the edge of the couch and pats my knee. "Sorry, Josefa, but..."   
"It's okay," I try to smile. "That's what you probably call star-struck," I say afterwards with a crooked forced smile.   
"It's not okay, Josey." Matt looks at me vigilantly with a serious look. "Did you digest that we're a successful band?"   
"You have to ask differently, Matt," Chris shakes his head, turns to me, "Have you listened to our music?" He gets up and pours one more cup of coffee it hands it to me wordlessly.   
"Yes, I have." My hand surrounds the porcelain. I stare into the black material. Now the cat has to get out of the bag. The two are very still. I wanted to express it carefully, would have probably better put together a few words, but instead it bursts out of me. "You are... You are so damn good! I listened to all the songs and then watched almost all the videos! I had to deal with that first and didn't know what to think about it, because... Because... You won Grammy's! You are world famous! I... I'm sitting here in the studio with the best band in the world and I don't know how to unite it. I had met you as normal people without music and then it turns out that-"  
"Hey, hey, easy, slow down, Josey. You're competing with me in fast talking." Matt rolls with the chair to me and puts the arm around me. It's very uncomfortable, but I'm glad I'm being held. It feels like he wants to hold me together so I can't fall apart.   
"We are still Matt, Dom and Chris for you. Nothing changes there. We are three friends who make music together because they love it". Chris deep voice frees me from the upcoming hurricane of my feelings and emotions.  
"I know that, Chris, but I don't get it linked in my head yet. There's 'Muse' on one side, from whom I've become a huge fan, and 'the friends of my friend' on the other side." I swallow dry. 'My friend'. Are Dom and I still a couple at all?   
"That's not bad at all for us, Josey. That still connects."   
"We actually only want to know one thing, and that is-,"   
"Coffee! I smell coffee! And who is the angel who brought Floyd over?"   
I freeze. Dom. He is back again. What should I do? Face him? Say my decision? Had I even made a decision? Should I disappear again?   
"I'll do it," Chris says in my direction. "I bring him coffee next door."  
"Take the treats and the bone with you," I remembered in time before the bass player left the room.  
"I'll bring you a coffee," Chris shouts out loud.   
With fascination I watch as Dom goes to the drums, but turns around again and Chris takes the second cup off. He holds the porcelain to his nose, takes a deep breath of the scent with his eyes closed and after a short moment of enjoyment he turns his head to me jerkily. Not to Matt, no. Directly to me. Instinctively I push my feet off on the floor and ride the chair backwards, away from him. Perhaps I am no longer visible in this way.   
"He can't actually see you," Matt frows. 

"But recognize my coffee," I whisper hardly audibly. At least I think he didn't hear it because my blood still rushes like a waterfall in my veins in shock.   
"Can he...? Can he hear me?" I just whisper, breathe flat again. I feel hot. I tear the scarf off my neck.   
"No, he can't. Only when I press the button here." Matt demonstrates it to me, speaks into a microphone. "Hey, Dom, is something wrong with your coffee?" He lets go of the button. Dom shakes his head, mumbles incomprehensibly into a nearby microphone and shakes his head again. He looks at Matt through the window and I gasp for air. He has deep rings in his eyes, the glow of his blue eyes is gone. In addition, he hasn't shaved in a while and seems to have aged for years. My heart is bleeding. I wheeze up and grab my chest where it hurts, bend in pain and don't know where it is up or down. There is only one sentence whirring around in my head.   
I am to blame.  
I am to blame.   
I am to blame.   
It's my fault that Dom looks so beat up.  
"Breathe. Deep. Off." Matt grabs my shoulders and puts me back in an upright position. "Josefa, you should breathe deeply! "  
"What is that, Matt?"   
Meanwhile Dominic disappears from our field of vision to the right. I follow his movement with my eyes.   
"There's a small cabin with drums in it. I think he's going to power himself out a little there," Matt suspects. "Chris? Can you..." Matt speaks into the microphone. The one mentioned nods and dedicates himself to a bass, starts playing, but lets his gaze rest on the cabin door.   
"So now that Chris has an eye on him, we can talk in peace."   
"Talking?"   
"Well, you just asked me a question, love. So, what you had there I would call "acute, painful heart". This occurs when you miss someone very much. In short: heartache at the highest level. And now take off your jacket, it's not that cold here."  
"But I didn't want to stay, because...," I begin, but Matt shakes his head in the denial and looks at me with this look that only fathers can. I sigh and take off the jacket a little awkwardly. "So better, Matt?"   
"No reason to get bitchy, young lady,' he says to me with a raised wobbly index finger. I grin amused.   
"You don't want to disappear in all seriousness without having talked to him? Don't you see how tired he is and don't you realize that you are just as badly off as he is? "  
I nod hesitantly. To argue against it would be too much of a lie.   
"Don't you want to go to him, love?"  
"But if he doesn't want to see me?" I am desperate.   
"Of course he wants that! You don't want to know how often he looked at his cell phone and was totally disappointed because no message came from you. Or because he still has you two in there as a screen lock." Matt leans against the console.  
"Josefa, you're looking for excuses not to love him instead of reasons so you can love him and he can love you."  
"Isn't love a little too early? After such a short time?"   
"Ask me. I knew after a short time that I was in love with Elle and never wanted to let her go again."   
"It frightens me, Matt," I whisper weakly. My gaze gets caught on the abandoned drums.   
"What are you afraid of? "   
" If I ... If I love him as I feel it inside me, then he can hurt me like nobody else".  
"That's what you call love," the singer smiles.   
"Why does love make us vulnerable? Why does a single person manage to find all the weak points? Doesn't that make us much too vulnerable?   
"No, because you also know all the weaknesses. Would you hurt Dom?"   
"Never! I would protect him! "  
"Do you see? That's how he also does it. Love gives you a shield. Because then you are two and he defends your weaknesses and you his weaknesses."  
"Why doesn't my heart beat faster all the time when it is there? It is a fast beating and then it becomes very quiet. That is not normal! With big, desperate eyes I look at Matt. He just laughs.   
"But it is, dear. That makes you realize that he is the right one."  
I nod slowly.  
"It could really be him, Matt."   
At that moment Flyod starts barking loudly in the studio and I see Chris moving his head back and forth as he looks after the dog. In panic Chris looks at Dom, who is suddenly back in my field of vision. F. U. C. K.   
"Go, Josey! Go to Dom!" Matt pulls me from the chair and drags me into the next room. "Matt! No!" My voice is shrill. Matt turns to me with a swing, grabs me by my shoulders and looks at me with such a serious facial expression that my blood almost freezes in my veins. "Josefa, you now go into the room and talk to Dom. You just told me clearly that you love him! Dom is my best friend and I know that he loves you too. And now get in there." He gives me a friendly push with his hands on my back and I stumble directly over a cable lying around. Fortunately, I can intercept myself without falling down. It would be extremely embarrassing if I now lay down on my face in addition to the whole situation.  
My gaze wanders through the room past guitars and basses, drums and microphones, a grand piano, cables and amplifiers.   
"So this is where your albums come from?"  
I turn around asking myself and see Matt standing in the door with his arms crossed, as if he wanted to guard me so that I wouldn't run away. I feel like a princess in the tower. Only that no one is evil here. In my head I imagine all three with knight's armour. I suppress a laugh. The idea is really too ridiculous.   
" Here we only rehearse the songs. Then there are rehearsal halls where the stage is tried out for the tour. For the albums we are otherwise in real studios. At times we show you that." His voice is as warm and friendly as ever and yet his gaze rests watchfully on me with Argus eyes.   
"Dude, I tell you one thing, Josey has to talk to Dom. Otherwise he'll freak us out and we can totally drop the tour."   
The completely disbanded Chris appears in the door, leans against the right door frame and with both hands slides through his face. Matt points to me with the thumb of his right hand. "Now all our drummer has to do is get back in here, Chris."   
"Where's Flyod?"   
"I thought he was in the room with you? Dom was cursing in the opposite direction. I think he's smoking."   
"Dominic smokes?!"   
"Didn't you know that?" Matt pulls up an eyebrow. I shake my head vehemently. "He's never smoked since we met."   
Chris and Matt exchange a look.   
"Let me through." Dom appears in the middle of the door. If it wouldn't be such an inappropriate situation, that would be a really good press picture. Would be, because Dominic has lowered his head, the view avoids contact with his best friends. "Dominic... look up...please," Matt speaks the sentence with such a variety of emotions as you can only if you know the other person for a very long time. In addition, he puts his hand on the drummer's chest, holds him back for a moment and nods in my direction. The person actually lifts his head slowly. When his eyes meet mine, I freeze to a pillar of salt. His eyes get bigger and bigger.   
Only a few steps separate us, yet it seems to me that we are 100 kilometres apart.   
"Josey."  
"Dominic."   
A tender murmuring. A careful whispering. Two glances colliding. Fast steps towards each other. But there is no final embrace. As if an invisible partition wall were in the middle of the room, Dom and I remain standing in front of each other, just a few centimetres apart. His blue-grey eyes capture me and I use all my strength to show him my soul, to show him what I feel and think.   
"I am so sorry that I do not...,' I whisper.   
"I have heard it,' he also whispers.   
"What did you hear? "  
"Matt has turned on the microphone,' the blonde mumbles and ends the eye contact by looking to the side.   
"Bellamy, you ass!" it rushes out off my mouth so loud that Dom flinches.   
"Sorry," I add directly and automatically grab his right hand with my left. "So Chris heard everything too? Oh God, then I could have issued a press release right away."   
"You can switch the microphones differently. Matt must have just radioed that in the drum booth."   
Should I say something? How much did he hear? Do I have to say anything at all? I am overwhelmed. My head is full of sentences that I want to say to him.   
Our hands are still touching.  
He had heard everything there was to hear and yet it was not enough what he could still have heard, but what I did not say. But did he really hear everything? No, he could not have heard my mad stuff about Muse.  
"You brought Floyd here."   
"Matt really begged me," I smiled, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket and unlocking it quickly. Then I show Dom the picture. He laughs. An honest laugh. "That's typical."  
I missed the sound of his cheerful voice.   
"Why is Chris about to give up?" Dom looks at me questioningly. Oh shit! I fool did not open the photo gallery, but the chat process.   
"Because of you... Because of us," I mumble and reach for my mobile phone. But Dominic reacts quickly and grabs my wrist, takes a step towards me. He looks at me urgently. His rings under his eyes are really in no way inferior to mine. "Why didn't you let me hear from you for so long? Dom's gaze becomes soft and sad at the same time.   
"Any sense of time has been gone since that evening," I say quietly. He still won't let go of my wrist, but takes the phone with the other hand and gives it back to me. As I push it into my pocket, I notice how our hands interlock. They still fit together perfectly, as if they were made for each other.   
"I... I have then first of all reearched on the Internet after you," I begin.   
"Please, you can't all believe what it says, there's so much in it that's bullshit."   
"Do you think I don't know that? You had a life before me and I had a life before we met. What I actually want to say," now I look at him firmly, "I've been through pretty much every phase of becoming a fan. I started with the music videos. Then interviews, concert recordings, even fan videos. I have... Oh God, it's really embarrassing, but I've become a total Muse fan, Dominic. You hit my taste in music with such inconceivable precision, it's frightening! On the other hand, I know you privately and have not associated you with music. That was quite exhausting to process."  
"You have become a Muser?" Surprised he looks at me and grins broadly afterwards.   
"And what about us? He takes deep air. "Have you made a decision?"   
"There was nothing to decide, Dominic. On the evening when we were still sitting at the table, it became clear to me.... I don't care about our age difference. If I were older or you younger, then we wouldn't be the way we are now and then maybe we wouldn't fit together at all."  
"But the band! Don't you care that we don't see each other for months because we give concerts all over the world?   
"Without Muse there wouldn't be you as the man I'm incredibly in love with. Of course it will seem unreal to me for a while, but... It never played a role, did it?" My voice is shaky, although I don't want it. I'm afraid he'll break my heart. Not because he is a musician and there are many temptations. But because my heart belongs to him.   
Dominic just presses me tightly to himself wordlessly and I bury my face on his right neck bend.   
"I want us, Dom!"  
I need him, I need his closeness, his kisses, his touches on my skin. I need everything from him like the air to breathe. For the first time in a long time I feel the air coming through my lungs and then rushing into my bloodstream through my body like a roller coaster.   
I press my body against his, claw my hands into his back and would never let go of Dom again.   
"I need you, Dominic. Please, stay with me!" A woman should never have to beg for a man's affection, yet I do. Dom lovingly strokes my cheek with his left hand and thereby wipes away a tear that has made its way across my face wanting to paths.   
"You don't have to be afraid, Josey."  
"Are you sure?" My voice sounds whiny.   
"I heard what you said to Matt and I feel the same way for you. The last time was like hell for me,' he whispers in my ear. "None of us knows what will happen in the next few years, Josefa. But you and I are now. We live now. We still have so much ahead of us, why should I now think of a possible end when we are still at the beginning? I promise you that we can make it together, okay? We just have to trust each other. I trust you, Josefa. "  
"I trust you, too." I nod confirming and together we nod briefly in unison before I feel Dom's lips gently on mine. Comforting, taking away the fear, making a promise.   
"By the way, I now know what your secret ingredient in the coffee is," Dom mumbles into the kiss.   
"Oh well?" I detach myself a bit from him, just enough to look into his eyes. "Yes. Chris uses them, Caris even uses them for the kids' cocoa and Matt and Elle will probably use them in tea too," Dom smiles and presses a short kiss on my lips. Goosebumps covers my body and I poke my nose at his. It's too early to say, but I feel it deep inside and that's enough at the moment. "If that's so, then I don't even need to make coffee for you anymore.   
Then you can drink the others' coffee,' I tease him with a smile. The word is on everyone's tongue, but nobody says it. It will come across our lips at the right time. It's a good thing because it allows the term to grow and mature and blossom and be harvested at just the right moment.   
"No, Josey. Your secret ingredient is the best of all. It's the only one that matters to me."  
End.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey,  
hope you liked it. If so, let me know and if not, please let me know as well =)


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